Hallelujah! A Heavenly Host of Holiday Crafts

By Harriet L. BlakeDecember 6, 1981

THIS IS the year of the Handmade Holiday. From the simple popcorn and cranberry chains of children, to one-of-a-kind art objects, the mid-winter holidays are fast becoming craft/artists T celebrations. Handpainted wooden soldiers, ceramic snowflakes, pewter angels and even a female wooden nutcracker are among the mostly reasonably-priced ornaments available at area galleries. Holiday time is a good opportunity to pick up a minor work by a major artist that you couldn't afford any other time.

The Renwick Gallery Museum Shop, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, is showing American-made ornaments in its "Holiday Cornucopia" exhibit and sale. Red, black and creme-colored wooden jigsaw archangels, calling birds and French hens are made by Robert Strobridge of Inside Stories in Milwaukee. They cost between $10 and $14. Handpainted dough ornaments by Katherine Conley go for $10-$12. Colorful blown glass balls and icicles by Don Jacobson, Gilmore Glass and Vitrix Hot Glass (a division of Corning Glass) are selling fast at $11 and up. Local soft sculptor Timothy Evans' white linen-and-lace music-box dolls have all been sold.

The Textile Museum Shop, 2320 S St. NW, is showing colorful imaginary wood block birds made in Japan, $5. The shop also has narrow handwoven cotton patterned belts from Guatemala and Mexico, $5-$12.50, as well as pin cushions made from rug fragments, $15.

Corcoran Gallery Shop, 17th Street and New York Avenue NW, is selling handpainted wood horses, chimney sweeps, birds, Santas and soldiers, starting at $1.80. They also have antique quilted animals ($8.95) and patchwork quilt stockings ($28) by Nancy Wertheimer. Padded figures elves and Santas, called "Stuff Me's," have pouches and hang like stockings from the mantel, $17 by the Cheshire Company.

Tiffany Tree, 1063 Wisconsin Ave. NW, is selling blown glass ornaments by Hotmire Studio of California, Leonard DiNardo and Paul Bendzunas. According to director Susan Brooks, all the balls have fuming -- the hot glass has been sprayed with nitrates resulting in iridescent colors. "Bendzunas' pieces are what we call double bubbles -- they have an interior bubble encased in a larger one," says Brooks. Prices start at $15 and almost all are signed and dated.

The Great Chase, the gift shop division of Tiffany Tree and Branch Gallery, at the same address, is carrying local artist Susan Young's handmade stockings of old fabrics and furs, $25 and $35. There are 40 different types of handmade German nutcrackers; most range from $20-$50 but some of the fancier ones go as high as $90. Manager Maggie Limehouse points out proudly, "We even have a woman nutcracker made by the Steinbach company, which makes the only woman nutcracker we know of; wooden pyramids or arches with figures and candles run between $40-$300; handpainted pewter angels, trumpets and drummers, $8-$10; handcarved wooden figures, $4.25-$6.25; and handcrafted angels in muslin with lace trim made by Teri Mulholland Bergin, $12.75.

United Nations Assocation Gift Shop, 3143 N St. NW, is selling "Angels of All Nations" made by Raymond Bolton of California. The four-inch high angels are made of paper cones with gold wings, each one is dressed in native costumes, $2.50; Chinese-made wheat stalk animals and butterflies, $3.50; hand embroidered Hungarian felt trees and candles, $2; bread dough figures from Ecuador, $1.50; straw, brass and red satin star mobiles from Sweden, $3.

Made in America, 1919 K St. NW, has hand-quilted miniature wreaths, stockings and candy canes for $4 as well as larger 16-inch quilted and braided red and green wreaths for $29, all by the Cabin Creek. They also have Leonard DiNardo's blown glass balls, $16 and less; the globular, vertically striped Vitrix ornaments, $12; colorful dough animals and Santas, $5.75; Josie Hopper's cotton gingerbread man and cotton, lace and beaded angels, $6 each; plaited wheat ornaments called "Corn Dollies" ($7.50) by Legacy, who also makes origami marbleized paper stars ($3.50); Deborah Marshall's crocheted snowflakes, candy canes and stockings which are dipped in a sugar solution to make them rigid, $3-$6.50; and Victorian de'coupage ornaments, $9-$10; and shimmering clear glass icicles by glassblowers Woodward and Bruce of Lynchburg, $3-$6.

Organization of American States Gift Shop, 1889 F St. NW, carries bread dough ornaments in Christmas and native Latin American motifs, $2; straw Santas, rag dolls and snowmen from Ecuador, $2-$16; miniature Guatemalan stick dolls, $1.70, as well as embroidered Christmas scenes from Chile, which are too large for the tree but make nice festive wallhangings.